Sludge Watch ==> Natural Life: The Dangers of Antibacterial Soap

[Maureen Reilly]

Ask Natural Life:
The Dangers of Antibacterial Soap

Q: I've just had a baby and want to make sure she has the healthiest 
possible start in life. With all the viruses and bacteria around us, I am 
trying to keep our home as clean as possible. But during a recent visit, my 
mother-in-law said I shouldn't be using antibacterial soap. I figure that 
using it is one of the no-brainer things we can do. So who is right?
A: There is a great deal of evidence that the use of antibacterial soap in 
the normal household is unnecessary and causes far more harm than good, both 
to human health and the environment.
Since 2000, the American Medical Association (AMA) has been advising the 
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to closely monitor and possibly 
regulate the home use of antimicrobials. At the AMA annual meeting in 2000, 
Myron Genel, chair of the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs and a Yale 
University pediatrician, said, "There's no evidence that they do any good 
and there's reason to suspect that they could contribute to a problem" by 
helping to create antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And just this past fall, 
the FDA finally announced that it is considering restricting antibacterial 
soaps, which its panel of health experts overwhelmingly said have not been 
proven any more effective than regular soap in preventing infections among 
average consumers. Actions the FDA could take include changing product 
labels, restricting marketing claims or pulling the products off the market 
altogether.
The advisory panel told the FDA that consumer products that include 
bacteria-fighting ingredients should be required to have scientific data 
proving they prevent infections. At issue are antibacterial products that 
include chemicals such as triclosan, which is known for its 
bacteria-fighting properties.

However, antibiotics kill more than the disease-causing bacteria to which 
they are directed. They kill any other susceptible bacteria. Once the 
ecosystem is cleared of susceptible bacteria, resistant bacteria can 
multiply and dominate the environment due to lack of competition, resulting 
in drug-resistant "superbugs". The phenomenon can be likened to weeds that 
have overgrown a lawn where the grass has been completely destroyed by an 
overdose of herbicides. The ubiquity of the antibacterials in soaps "is a 
worrying thing," lead researcher Dr. Eli N. Perencevich of Beth Israel 
Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, told the media at a 
meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in New Orleans in 
2000. He said at the level of usage of antibacterial soap in the typical 
home, bacteria could easily develop that would be resistant to both 
antibiotics and the antibacterial soaps themselves.

Microbiologist Dr. Stuart Levy of Tufts University told an International 
Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Georgia in 2000 that 
strong antibacterial cleaners are needed only when someone in a household is 
seriously ill or has low immunity. He said that older cleansers such as soap 
and hot water, alcohol, chlorine bleach and hydrogen peroxide are sufficient 
for most purposes. In fact, your use of antibacterial cleaners may be 
hurting your baby's immune system rather than keeping her healthy. Dr. Levy, 
who has long been active with the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotic 
(APUA), spoke of an Italian study that found that exposure to bacteria is 
essential for development of an infant's immune system. A baby, he said, 
must be exposed to germs during its first year in order to develop the 
antibodies needed to fight infection later in life. There are also 
environmental problems with the over-use of antibacterial agents, which may, 
in turn, lead to health problems.

According to Peter Vikesland of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 
University, in research published on Environmental Science & Technology's 
Research ASAP website, he and his colleagues found that the triclosan 
antimicrobial agent used in household dishwashing soaps reacts with 
chlorinated water to produce unacceptably high levels of chloroform, which 
is known to be a probable human carcinogen. The research also suggests that 
the reaction of triclosan with chlorine could be producing highly 
chlorinated dioxins in the presence of sunlight. Triclosan is also found in 
toothpastes, acne creams, deodorants, lotions and 75 percent of liquid soaps 
and nearly 30 percent of bar soaps. It is also incorporated into a wide 
range of consumer products like toys, cutting boards, toothbrush handles, 
hot tubs and athletic clothing.
Like Levy, other researchers suggest restricting the use of antibacterial 
cleaning products to health care settings like hospitals or nursing homes 
with very sick residents. However, industry representatives contend that 
their products are safe and that people should be able to clean themselves 
and their homes as effectively as hospitals. Unfortunately, triclosan and 
other antibacterial chemicals take time to work, needing to be left on a 
surface for up to two minutes. Since most people are not that patient or 
conscientious, they end up rinsing off the antibacterial cleansing agent 
before it has time to work. On the other hand, regular soap gets rid of 
bacteria too, by adhering it to the soap's fatty acids, which become 
encapsulated in droplets of water and washed away.

Another piece of the puzzle not mentioned by the soap industry in its 
marketing of expensive antibacterial agents to consumers is that many of the 
most common diseases are viral in nature and therefore not prevented by 
antibacterial products!

So take the advice of some of the world's best microbiologists and medical 
doctors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and wash 
your hands, your baby and your home thoroughly with ordinary soap and warm 
water or traditional cleaning agents. And you will be effectively, safely 
and inexpensively warding off infection while not destroying your family's 
natural immunity.

Resources:
The Antibiotic Paradox: How the Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their 
Curative Powers by Stuart B Levy (Perseus Publishing, 2002)
The Natural Soap Book : Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps by Susan 
Miller Cavitch (Storey Publishing, 1995)
Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotic (APUA)
75 Kneeland St. Boston, MA 02111
www.tufts.edu/med/apua
http://www.life.ca/nl/107/soap.html